I was a Fred supporter. Although I’m not enthusiastic about McCain, I will have no problem voting for him and whoever his running mate is. Despite his weaknesses (particularly on immigration as well as his naive willingness to side with Democrats to the detriment of the party and country), McCain is at his core a man of integrity who truly does strive to “put country first.” I think he would wage a successful war on terrorism, would assemble an extremely good cabinet and appoint sound judges.

I have come around to supporting Palin for VP. I do not think that the experience factor is paramount or insurmountable. As others have pointed out, it makes sense that the VP pick might be a “fresh face” from outside the Beltway. Her relative youth would also nicely accentuate how “upside down” the Obama-Biden ticket is with Joe on the ticket. (Thank goodness they chose Biden!)

Although I am a woman who has worked in a male-”dominated” field (science), I have always opposed affirmative action… but this choice is about politics, not hiring. I think there are plusses to having a ticket that includes a woman. It would be an historic ticket (for our party) and might help persuade some swing voters who desperately want to *prove* how open-minded they are to vote for a McCain ticket instead of The One.

What about other Governors? Of the ones I’ve reviewed, Palin rose to the top, particularly in the past month as energy became such a strong issue for the Republicans. To me, the four with the most stylistic advantages (such as their presentation skills) are Palin, Jindal, Romney, and Huckabee (personally Huckabee reminds me of a game show host, but I acknowledge that he is generally credited with being an engaging speaker). Given McCain’s weakness in stump speeches, I think style is an important factor in the campaign.

Romney and Huckabee both bring negatives from the primary. I like Romney well enough, but he really is vulnerable to the class-warfare attacks by the Dems that might influence swing voters. Also, it damages the party every time we have to hear about how some evangelicals won’t vote for a Mormon. Let’s just not go there.

Huckabee strikes me as a weak politician from a weak state who mostly trades on his religious views. Unlike Huckabee, Palin strikes me as a good governor (so far) from an important state (because of energy) with conservative political values who is not bent on dragging her personal religious views into everything.

I *really* like what I’ve seen of Jindal (except for his views on teaching creationism in a science classroom — very disappointing). He is an outstanding speaker and seems to be cut in the Reagan mold. And, I would pay big money to see Jindal on the same stage as Biden! However, I think oil is the winning domestic policy issue this election year, so Palin would be a persuasive voice for that.

I know there is a tendency to want a foil for Biden, but his role (based on the sales pitch that he is some sort of foreign policy expert) is to attack McCain, not the VP. In terms of the VP debate, remember there is only one scheduled. Most folks won’t watch it and MSM coverage will minimize its effectiveness for McCain’s ticket (assuming the Republican wins). I think a better strategy is to put up a polished, accomplished VP candidate who has their own set of strengths, more towards the domestic policy side, and ignore Biden’s mudslinging during the debate and hit the stump.

If performance at the VP debate is what matters most, I would go with Rudy…

Y-not on August 25, 2008 at 4:48 PM